Read Online Kissed by Smoke by Shéa MacLeod - Free Book Online

rush at me.
    This time I was ready. I lashed out with the dao even as
I rolled to the side. He missed me, crashing to the ground instead.
Unfortunately, I only nicked him. I could smell the old copper tang
of his blood, but it wasn’t anything that would keep him down.
    I jumped to my feet and ran at him, but he
somehow managed to grab one of my boots and yank my feet out from
under me. I slammed to the ground, the air rushing from my lungs,
my vision going dark around the edges.
    In one pounce, he was on me. His legs
straddled my waist. He grabbed my chin in his right hand and yanked
my head to the side, baring my throat. That pale column of smooth
skin over throbbing vein, it was like crack to a vamp. And I
couldn’t stop him.
    A sudden roaring filled my ears and a pale,
silvery column of smoke billowed out of the center of my chest. It
wrapped itself around the vampire like a snake. He froze, eyes
wide. “What the hell?”
    The smoke lifted the vamp up and off me,
almost like it was a third arm. A very strong arm. Only I wasn’t
controlling it. My brand new Air ability was playing all on its
own. All around me dead leaves and bits of twigs and old candy
wrappers whirled around as though caught in a mini tornado.
    “Put me down,” the vampire screeched,
thrashing against the hold of the Air pouring out of my chest. To
no avail. The Air didn’t budge. The vamp’s eyes were wide with
terror.
    I scrambled to my feet, heart beating like a
wild thing in my chest. The whole situation was totally freaky, but
I tried to play it cool. “Why were you at my house?”
    “Put me down,” he begged. “Put me down and
I’ll tell you.”
    I raised my eyebrows at that. “Do I look
stupid? Tell me why you were at my house.”
    “Will you put me down if I tell you?”
    A very unpleasant smile flitted across my
face. “Oh, yes,” I purred. “Of course I will.”
    “Promise me.”
    I stepped closer, caressed his cheek with
one finger. “I promise.”
    “Okay. There’s a contract out on you.”
    “A contract?” Someone wanted me dead? Huh.
Wouldn’t be the first time.
    “Yeah, yeah. Ten thousand dollars.”
    “Is that all?” In a weird way, that pissed
me off.
    “Hey, that’s a lot of money in this
economy.”
    Good gods, what was the world coming to that
vampire assassins worried about the economy? “All right then, do
you know why someone issued the contract?”
    He shook his head vehemently. “No idea.”
    “Now for the million dollar question: Who issued
the hit?”
    “I don’t know. Really I don’t. I just found
it posted in a chat room.”
    “A chat room? Seriously?”
    He shrugged.
    “Give me the address.”
    He babbled off the website address which I
committed to memory. Or hoped I did.
    “You promised you’d let me down.”
    I sighed. “Oh, yes. Of course.”
    Slowly the tendrils of smoke lowered him to
the ground, though the Air still swirled around him. With a single
thrust, my dao sliced through skin and muscle and bone until it
pierced the heart.
    His eyes widened, dark blood spilling from
his lips. “You promised,” his voice was a whisper.
    “And I kept my promise,” I whispered back.
“But I never promised not to kill you afterward.”
    With a final twist meant to destroy the
heart, I pulled the saber back out. The vamp’s body crumpled to the
ground and then burst into dust.
    The Air did one last swirl around me,
scattering the ash to the winds. I smiled a little. So, someone
wanted me dead and was willing to pay for it. That would be the
last stupid move they’d ever make.
    Darkness lurked in my eyes as I started down
the hill.

Chapter Nine
    I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised to
find Jack on my doorstep when I got home, but I was. I also
shouldn’t have been surprised to feel a stab of longing mixed with
regret as my eyes scanned the physique that would put
Michelangelo’s David to shame. I brushed those feelings aside. That
was a dark path I was not about to go